The whiff of BS is strong downwind of the great casino debate. The representations of OLG and MGM fail the credibility test. Hundreds of millions in fees and taxes for the city? Is that before or after the inevitable demand for a tax holiday when the shareholders grow impatient for returns?

The selfless desire of MGM et al to help Toronto into the big league brings a tear to the eye, not for the developers but for the innocents at city hall who seem to forget that Toronto lacks the mountains, canyons, rivers, tides, ruins and beaches that make for a natural resort destination. They are lining up to swallow the bait in a sport where every fish is a sucker.

Our politicians should also reflect on the historical evolution of Canadian gambling from illegal, to charity only, to Olympic debt retirement program, to regressive national tax system and on the fact that every successful operation soon attracts competitors and an end to high profits.

Does anyone think that Mississauga, Hamilton, Pickering or Buffalo will not try to repatriate all the cash flowing into Toronto?

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and sounds too good to be true, it is probably a lame duck.

Paul Collier, Toronto

There has been much discussion on the potential financial benefits to building a casino in Toronto, but very little mention of possible losses.

I remember former Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau’s claim that “The Olympics [summer 1976] can no more lose money than a man can become pregnant.” Afterwards the city was left with a bill of over $1 billion that took 30 years to pay down.

The future of casino gambling is online. What is the point of spending hundreds of millions, years of construction and huge operating costs on a bricks casino when a clicks one can be had for less than $1.5 million, two months of setup and much lower operating costs?

In 2012 casino revenue in Atlantic City fell by 8 per cent. Therefore New Jersey recently became the third state to allow online gambling. How long can Ontario resist doing the same?

Building a casino in Toronto is a snark hunt where the casino will turn out to be a boojum and all hoped for profits “will softly and suddenly vanish away and never be met with again.”

Moses Shuldiner, Toronto

Can Toronto do Vegas? March 15

The answer is: who cares?

This ongoing and nauseating debate about a casino in Toronto is so tiresome. One casino in Toronto is not going to destroy the social and cultural fabric of the city. Toronto will not become Las Vegas. Many European cities have downtown casinos and they are still thriving cultural destinations. In fact as Shawn Micallef points out, Toronto could do with some Vegas-style loosening up.

We survived the arrival of attractive self-service LCBO outlets and even extended drinking hours. I’m sure the city can handle a casino, and I can’t think of a better location than the CNE/Ontario Place grounds.

Andrew van Velzen, Toronto

The casino proposal should not be aborted. Local businesses are regularly encouraged by the city councils to increase the economic benefit for the area, so why not a casino?

OLG’s general offer and the annual estimated income can bring a fortune to Toronto, which can cover other issues. In addition, many job opportunities will be created to boost up the economy. The city desperately needs some new attractions for the tourists and local residences.

Rather than driving all the way to suburban casinos, the city location creates much fewer safety issues where the security force is more concentrated. Comparing with all the nightclubs and bars in the downtown core, one single casino should not create as many concerns.

“Real neighbourhood” should not repel the huge potential benefit from the casino.

Yuhan Lin, Toronto

Don’t delay the vote is right — or that won’t be the only delay. While I agree completely with your feelings toward the Toronto casino, other issues are worth mentioning here.

In terms of construction, the city of Toronto is booming way too fast, especially with “Condo, Ontario” at Fort York and Spadina ever-expanding. With this boom comes more people, and with more people comes more traffic.

The traffic on Spadina is a complete nightmare, along with the DVP and anywhere downtown, even in the afternoon. Before we build a major attraction that is borderline problematic, we need a solution for the roads first. There is insufferable traffic after any event at the ACC or Skydome — I cannot even fathom the traffic we would be experiencing with a casino in the area.

Perhaps more importantly, Toronto is generally a very safe city. As a 22-year-old female, I feel safe walking home alone at night. But according to studies, the impact of a casino in an area can increase crime rates due to the crime related issues of compulsive gamblers.

Cathryn Hostick, Toronto

With Toronto recently recognized as the fourth largest city in North America, it is obvious that “downtown Toronto is thriving.” However, for a city that desires to attract continual growth, transportation infrastructure remains less than adequate and lacks the financial means for improvement.

As several recent articles exemplify, there is also insufficient financial resources to provide acceptable public housing, evidenced by the shortage of maintenance afforded to TCHC’s properties. With these significant, growing problems, is a casino the potential answer to sustain our city’s future economy and vibrancy?

These issues among others are reason enough to delay voting against a casino until its overriding benefits are completely ruled out. The citizens of Toronto have an obligation to look past the mere negative connotations associated with a casino, to critically assess what an entertainment complex like this could do for an expanding world-class city with critical needs and revenue deficits.

Jordan Livings, Toronto

Why do all the casino proposals need to have the development downtown? Woodbine Racetrack already has gambling, is close to the airport and major highway access, and has room for development and parking. We already have gridlock downtown via the Gardiner and Lakeshore. People who gamble don’t leave the facility to share their wealth. That argument is bunk. Why not Woodbine?

Lesley Chalmers, Toronto

The OLG and casino proponents continue to trot out the old saw about tourism and convention numbers. Some of the most successful convention cities in the world have no casino. In fact, the three cities with the largest convention facilities in the U.S. — Chicago, Orlando and Atlanta — do not have casinos. What’s more, the Oxford Properties’ proposal to enlarge the current Metro Toronto Convention Centre will likely proceed with or without a casino.

The MGM nightmare proposed for Exhibition Place is so 1970s — a massive, fuel-wasting, urban destroying mall with a few baubles tacked on. This “integrated resort” model may work well in a wasteland with no other options for entertainment, like, say, a desert in Nevada. The scheme is totally inappropriate to locate in downtown Toronto.

As to their claim the casino is only 8 per cent of the space, that’s like saying your body is only riddled 8 per cent with cancer. City councillors must vote no.

Paul French, Toronto

Thanks for the editorial asking for the casino debate to end. As you wrote, casino advocates have failed to show that downtown Toronto would benefit from a gambling complex. All things considered, a casino would have a negative impact on downtown residents.

Research on casino cities shows that a casino would drain a billion dollars a year from the local economy, forcing restaurants and cultural facilities to close from lack of business.

Ten thousand jobs promised by the casino would come from the 10,000 jobs lost in the community, as a billion dollars in local spending shifts to the casino.

Casino economics is parasite economics. I don’t know anyone who would rather live in Atlantic City than in Toronto.

Max Moore, Harbourfront Community Association, Toronto

As the representatives of Big Gambling and their political shills ramp up the rhetoric and pressure, (“MGM raises the lobbying ante,” March 16) Torontonians should be clear on one thing: gambling is not an “industry” (which refers to productive enterprises) and it does not “make money.”

It removes billions of dollars from the pockets of ordinary people who would otherwise spend it on cars, groceries, rent, etc., thus boosting the local economy, and puts it in the pockets of Paul Godfrey’s plutocrat friends who then give a pittance back to their local political allies to grease the wheels with.

Anyone who knows a thing about gambling knows that the only winner is The House. The rest of us lose.

Michael Boughn, Toronto

OLG’s “modernization” proposal is an expansion plan to broaden its customer base and appeal to a younger crowd. So what’s next, casinos on university campuses? How about a modernization of The New Colossus poem by Emma Lazarus at the base of the Statue of Liberty?

Mayors from Niagara Falls to Ottawa are asking why has Toronto’s potential gambling revenue take suddenly doubled? Why was this offer so late in arriving, and why has this offer not been extended to them as well?

It’s a good question. Maybe as a result of all the backlash against a casino here, it’s a Hail Mary by MGM.

There seems to be more interest in a casino elsewhere in Ontario. Maybe MGM should be casting a bigger net outside Toronto, far outside Toronto. Throw a dart at a map.

Richard Kadziewicz, Scarborough

I notice that in all the full-page advertisements recently in the paper from MGM about the glories of them building a casino in Toronto, there’s not a single picture of an actual casino, anyone gambling, losing money (or winning), loads of cars parked or any neighbourhood other than their imagined idyll. Does anyone else find this interesting?

I’d say the whole thing is one gigantic whopper. Maybe the mayor will swallow it, but smart Torontonians won’t.

Martin Aller-Stead, Toronto

I was saddened to learn that the city of Toronto has decided to consider building a casino as a source of revenue. To seriously consider a gambling institution as a possibility to improve the province shows me that the government has lost sight of the factors that make for the well-being of citizens.

The happiness of society is not promoted by allowing some members to fall deeper into the pits of addiction and debt while the very government that is supposed to care for the well-being of people sucks the juice of this revenue. Our collective paranoia about a lack of jobs must not push us into the faulty decision of trying to create jobs by opening a casino.

How can a conscientious worker feel fulfilled in a job while knowing that his efforts are being directed towards an industry that preys upon the psychological vulnerabilities of others by trapping them into spirals of addiction and debt, and the related problems of increase in stress, money laundering, poverty, people living on welfare, violence, stress, ill health, the destruction of social relationships, increase in divorce, unhappiness, general moral depravity and a host of further problems?

The wisdom of sages throughout the ages have echoed that there is ultimately no blessing to be found in sources of livelihood that enrich some while causing serious harm to others. Let us have the foresight to heed their advise and oppose this casino anywhere in the GTA.

Zehra Jaffer, Thornhill

Aside from the initial construction jobs, casino jobs are low-paying, part-time positions. When casinos once paid patrons with tokens and coins, you needed floor staff to take this currency and exchange it to cash.

I can remember my early-day visits to Vegas where I carried buckets of dollar tokens with the assistance of casino floor staff. Gone are those days. Tokens have been replaced by electronic receipts which are paid by cash dispensing machines.

I am also aware that the Las Vegas gambling barons are working on cashless casinos. The concept would have gambling patron predetermine how much they wanted to spend/play. They would then be given the cash value on a credit card which could only be used at the designated casino for all cash transactions (gaming, food, drinks), thereby eliminating the need for floor staff to make change, pay patrons etc. Patrons would finally take their casino credit card to the casino teller and redeem it for cash once they were finished gambling.

Casinos have already introducing electronic dealerless Blackjack and will carry this theme to other card and dice games. I am afraid that the “big attentive service” days of casinos are long gone and like any other business is adopting the lean business principals of industry.

So much for manual labour and unionized casino jobs.

Allen A. Ballach, Toronto

Check your bets folks. If you believe these “execs,” I have a nice moose pasture for sale way up north.

Markus Humby, Burlington

Toronto is a much bigger city than Las Vegas. In fact Toronto is now the fourth largest city in North America and may soon have a Vegas-style casino.

MGM and Cadillac Fairview have proposed a resort concept with casino at Exhibition Place with a 1,200-room hotel, a high-end shopping mall about half the size of Eaton Centre and a permanent 900-seat Cirque du Soleil theatre. It will be a 3-million square foot complex with 12,000 spots in underground parking space.

The MGM Resorts-Cadillac Fairview concept is a massive makeover of both Exhibition Place and Ontario Place that will cost about $3 billion to build. It will be more than nine times more expensive than the proposed Markham arena.

If the casino were built in Toronto, will it affect Markham arena? The answer is yes. The casino will be the biggest casino and entertainment complex in Canada. It will have concerts and shows to attract more people to the casino including the gambling. Toronto is an international city with millions of tourists a year and a population of more than 5.5 million people in the GTA.

Toronto’s Exhibition Place is easily accessible by airplane, TTC and cars. It also attracts people from neighbouring cities like Oakville, Mississauga, Hamilton and Markham, which are all within one hour or less of travelling time. Exhibition Place is centrally located with other attractions like Ontario Place, CN Tower, the CNE and Metro Convention Centre. It would make more sense to have a casino in Toronto as it would be more fun and offer more attractions for tourists to go to the Toronto casino than the Markham arena.

The proposed Markham arena will be doomed to fail if the Toronto casino is built. Since there is no NHL team lined up, it has to rely on 130 shows or concerts a year with 6,000 tickets to break even. It may not even break even because it will be very difficult to compete with the Toronto casino, which will be bigger and better with shopping, bigger shows and concerts and gambling. The casino usually books Hong Kong or international singers for concerts. When the Hong Kong or international singers are in Toronto, it is not likely that they will have concert again in the Markham arena.

Markham council approved the financial framework again on Jan. 29, 2013. The whole concept of the current financial framework of the arena is extremely unpopular and controversial. Combined with the fact that it has no NHL team or other solid major tenant, a lot of Markham residents do not want the arena.

The whole arena issue is eroding the trust between the mayor and six councillors in an unprecedented manner. Toronto will have a Cirque du Soleil in the casino and Markham will have a “white elephant.”

Jim Kwan, Markham

Building a casino in downtown Toronto is a bad idea.

The Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. announced that in March 2012, a casino is going to be built in downtown Toronto. This decision was made because they think they can create 2,300 new jobs and attract more tourism from around the world.

Without the temptation of a new casino, gambling is a growing problem. Lotteries, online betting, and racetrack betting have contributed to an increase of gambling addictions. An addiction has the potential to increase poverty and break up families. Ultimately, the government will have to end up raising taxes to be able to afford giving these people welfare.

As a 15-year-old girl who has been living in Toronto my whole life, I don’t like the idea of building a casino. Not only is the government wasting their money on building this, but they are putting it in an area that I used to go to when I was a little girl.

The EX is one of the best and most enjoyable places to go to in Toronto. If they are going to build a casino, why does it have to be in an area that has such a strong history?

The casino is also going to ruin the businesses around it. For one thing, I know that my parents wouldn’t want me to go near that area because of the people it can attract (i.e. criminals). I am sure that I am not the only one who thinks this is a bad idea.

As an alternative, I think that instead of building a casino downtown, OLG can open one just outside of Toronto so it’s not smack in the middle of the city. If they do this, they can have much more space to build so the casino can it be bigger. By doing this, it can also be isolated from other businesses. But I still think it’s a bad idea.

Tamar Safran, Toronto

Why not set up a “Red Light District” on the Bridle Path to bring in those tourist dollars?

Carol Trainor, Toronto

Who are we betting on?

The reason casino city succeeds in Las Vegas is because of its location, in the middle of nowhere. When I recently saw in the Star, the Disneyworld cartoon drawings proposed for the casino city at the CNE, I almost fainted. Who do the casino consortium think we Torontonians are, village idiots?

I loved the gesture that the casino would generously give us 10 years of free admission to the CNE.

If we have to have a casino city to assist in paying for future growth, my suggestion is to relocate in Downview Park, that is an island unto itself. Secondly, tell the Torontonians how much we will actually make in profits from this. Thirdly, put all the profits into paying for better city planning so we do not get into yet another mess.

Astra Burka, Toronto

What can we do to stop this madness? Please, can the Star help?

Rita Cecchini, Toronto

The MGM/Cadillac Fairview proposal looks interesting and worth a closer look. I notice, though, that there is absolutely no mention of a casino, making me think they realize full well that we don’t want one.

If their “integrated resort” idea is a good one, let’s consider it only if they drop the idea of including a casino. If they won’t play ball without a casino, it just proves their financial plan relies on revenues from people (who very often can’t afford it) losing money to the slot machines.

Such a financial plan is not progress. It is exploitation.

Ivan Brown, Toronto

I can’t believe we are even thinking about letting MGM build a casino in Toronto. Why can t we build our own? We have done it already in Niagara Falls. A beautiful state-of-the-art casino built with taxpayers money. I’m sure it’s not losing money. We can do it again in Toronto without American MGM. Reminds me of the 407.

Dave Kotulak, Oakville

With the requisite fanfare, MGM Resorts has proposed a casino for the Exhibition Place grounds. They even have a Lego model that citizens aren’t allowed to see and newspapers aren’t allowed to photograph. We’re promised thousands of high-paying jobs, a soaring hotel, a high-end shopping centre, and even free admission to the Ex. MGM has “a vision” for our waterfront.

MGM also had a vision for a $5 billion casino project for Atlantic City; they even had pretty architectural drawings showing soaring hotels and a colossal convention centre. It abruptly abandoned those plans when New Jersey gambling regulators were set to deny MGM Mirage’s suitability to operate casinos in New Jersey, as they were unconvinced that MGM Mirage’s Macau partner, Pansy Ho, was a “suitable” partner to hold a casino license.

The land in Atlantic City on which the casino was to be built is now an empty lot; no high-paying jobs, no soaring hotels, no convention centre, no nothing. Just an empty lot surrounded by the ravaged streets of a once-vibrant city.

I hope someone in city hall and the OLG will ask MGM some hard questions about its partners and the visions it keeps having. Maybe those same people can ask Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands Corp. about its recent admission that it violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in its dealings in China and Macao.

Alexander Greer, Toronto

Rob Ford seems to think a casino in Toronto will bring tourist dollars to Ontario. There is no way Toronto will compete with Las Vegas, Monte Carlo or Atlantic City as a gambling destination. It will be a reverse affect with Ontarians’ money being hauled back to the American casino owners’ home office.

Paul Godfrey thinks the Ontario government is going to make lots of money from a percentage of the income from an American owned casino. Ontario will never know how much money is taken in. MGM or Caesars are experts at controlling how much income they show.

The U.S. IRS has fought with these casino companies for years about the amount of income they show. As far as MGM is concerned it will be like taking candy from a baby. Why do you think they want it so bad? Dump trucks full of Ontarians’ money being shipped back to their head office.

Only a fool would think that we will get a fair split with an American-owned casino. Are you a fool Mr. Godfrey? Why are Ford and Godfrey determined to send our money to Las Vegas? Why can’t we expand the casino at Woodbine and keep it Canadian owned?

John Workman, Nobleton

Dori Segal, chief executive of First Capital Realty, fears a casino mega-complex near his King Liberty Village development “will destroy the unique character” of the area and “irreparably impair the community attributes and value” of the neighbourhood where he’s heavily invested.

In a residential pocket of Etobicoke, Humber Valley Village residents feel his pain. Mr. Segal’s company plans to demolish our small two-storey Humbertown Shopping Centre and 140 mature trees, then overload the lot with condominium towers, townhouse units, and a combined increase in retail and office space of almost 300 per cent.

When we talk of gambling habits, it took a week’s wages lost before I smelled the coffee as a once young man. But then — and even more today — there was not enough done to protect the uninitiated.

And when OLG spends something like $50 million yearly — a mere inadequate drop in the bucket to help the thousands upon thousands of problem gamblers — one wonders how much more when on line gaming sweeps Ontario later this year.

And with the heavier concentration of slots being planned over gaming tables, an even darker cloud emerges for those gaming from the comfort of their homes. Sadly, gamblers don’t understand the odds stacked against them for winning.

That is what troubles Robert Murray of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health’s Problem Gambling Project, when he says that the nature of randomness should be embedded in the educational system in the same manner as drugs and alcohol are.

That if this was drilled home early enough, that it would defuse wrong notions that persistence in playing pays off and that odds of winning don’t work because chances are random.

Tell that to today’s youth. He cites a study of some 9,000 Ontario adolescents in grades 7-12 that found 43 per cent to have participated, and where some 29,000 province wide were projected as problem gamblers. What might that mean for them with the one-armed bandits at prey?

It would seem that Queen’s Park has given OLG far too much clout to roll the dice online gaming. And in considering the potential fallout, what does it take before they will start smelling the coffee?

Claude McDonald, Kitchener

The thought of degrading Toronto by allowing a full-scale casino is bad news on its own. To consider destroying the unique character of Exhibition Place by building a huge gambling operation on that site is beyond bad news. It would be an irreversable travesty.

Robert Woodcock, North York

The heat is on. The city is being promised unimaginable wealth and jobs galore. It is worth remembering that Windsor has had a casino for 20-plus years and still has an unemployment rate among the highest in the country.